Accra, May 24, GNA – Alexander Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka, the President’s Juaben Municipal Chief Executive Nominee, who allegedly offered money to some Àssembly Members to vote for him has been charged.
A Statement issued by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on Tuesday said Sarfo-Kantanka was expected to appear before a Kumasi High Court (Criminal Division) on June I, this year, to answer charges preferred against him.
The Prosecutor has preferred 26 counts of corruption in respect of two public elections conducted in September and November 2021.
Sarfo-Kantanka is alleged to have given some Assembly Members monies between GHC2,5000 and GHC5,000 to buy their vote during his confirmation for the position but could not get the number of votes to need.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor said evidence established that, in September 2021, before the confirmation or otherwise of the accused, by a public election, the accused visited the members of the Juaben Municipal Assembly in Juaben; and he gifted the elected members of the Assembly Five Thousand cedis (GHC5,000.00) each and he also gifted the Government appointed members Two Thousand Five Hundred cedis (GHC2,500.00) each to influence their conduct in the performance of their duty as voters in respect of the election in his favour.
The first election was conducted on 29 September 2021 and the accused failed to secure the required number of votes for confirmation as Municipal Chief Executive.
According to the OSP, the accused was renominated for the same position by the President of the Republic on 12 October 2021.
The OSP said a subsequent election for the same purpose was conducted on 1 November 2021 and the accused again failed to secure the required number of votes.
It said the accused, utterly disappointed at the turn of events that his gifting of valuable consideration to the members of the Assembly to influence their vote in his favour had gone awry, went berserk and vented his wrath on the members of the Assembly and angrily demanded a refund of the amounts of money he had gifted to them.
It said the irate conduct of the accused was audio-visually recorded, and the recording went viral on Social Media platforms.
The OSP said the accused had admitted gifting sums of money to the respective categories of the members of the Assembly to influence the outcome of the elections in his favour.
GNA